Conference calls and virtual meetings among invitees located in geographically distinct locations are common occurrences in today's economy. This is particularly true for those who travel extensively as part of their job, have long commutes to work, are employed by a company with a number of geographically distinct offices, or frequently work from home. And with advancements in mobile technology, today's workforce is no longer tethered to a desk (or desktop computer). Thus, conference call or virtual meeting participants commonly join meetings using a mobile device, such as a smartphone.
Despite this growing need to cater to a mobile workforce, the process of scheduling a meeting, dialing-in or “attending” that meeting, and conveying ancillary information to other invitees of the meeting from a mobile device remain unduly cumbersome.
For example, a user of a mobile device typically will receive an alert from a calendar application of the mobile device, reminding the user of an upcoming meeting. Upon receiving the alert, or at a time coinciding with the start of the meeting, the user can navigate to the calendar application, select the appropriate day or time of the meeting, select the meeting that is about to begin, and then review the corresponding calendar event record to identify a phone number or hyperlink to join the meeting. The user's selection of the phone number or hyperlink, however, commonly launches another application, e.g., a phone application in the case where a phone number was selected by the user, or a web browser application in the case where a hyperlink was selected by the user. As a result, when a user is prompted to enter an access code for the meeting after this subsequent application launches, the user must navigate back to his or her calendar application, re-open the meeting invite, and then either memorize an access code within the event record or “select” and “copy” it from the text. Next, the user returns to the subsequent application for accessing the meeting (e.g., the phone application or web browser) and can manually enter the access code from personal memory or “paste” the code into an appropriate field. Only after the completion of all these steps can the user join the conference call or virtual meeting.
The burdensome nature of joining a virtual meeting or sharing information with other invitees using a mobile device is further exacerbated when a participant is driving. All of the aforementioned steps, including the manual input of call-in numbers and access codes, and the entering, exiting, and switching back and forth among applications, forces a user's attention away from the road and surroundings. Focusing on a mobile device rather than the act of driving not only puts the driver at risk, but also endangers other motorists.
Thus, a need exists for improved systems and techniques for initiating conference calls or virtual meetings, joining the meetings, and conveying ancillary information regarding a user to other meeting invitees. Moreover, improved systems and techniques are needed to ensure the safety of user's who participate in conference calls and virtual meetings while driving.